Looks like I’ve gone and disappeared from my own blog again. But I do have a good excuse. Actually, a couple good excuses. I was, once again, in the wonderfully awful position of having deadlines backing up against each other. All the work is a good thing. All the people expecting stuff from me in a timely manner? Not so good.
The most important among those deadlines was turning in the manuscript for DRAMA! Book 3: Show, Don’t Tell (unless my editor on another project is reading this and, of course, that was the most important deadline). Now, the thing about deadlines is they’re kind of like potato chips. You can’t just have one. Only a few weeks after I turned in Show, Don’t Tell, my editor returned it to me all marked up with edits and a new deadline … Of yesterday … Which I met. Yay, me! Now, I’m starting work on Book 4, Entrances and Exits, but I’ve got some time before that one is due.
Getting notes on a manuscript is another wonderfully awful thing about being a writer. I clearly turned in the best piece of writing in the world when I sent in the manuscript the first time. How could there possibly be anything to change? Every word is gold. Fool’s Gold, but gold nonetheless.
Even worse than getting notes is getting good notes. You see, when an editor gives you bad notes with comments that make no sense, questions that are just plain silly … those you can simply ignore. Well, okay, you can’t ignore them, but you can debate them. But when you get good notes, when all the edits are totally understandable and obvious, well, you kind of feel like an idiot. Like, “Why in the world didn’t I notice that in the first place?”
My notes were of the good variety. The really good variety. The “I couldn’t argue with any of them” variety. Not a one. Which is kind of annoying when you think about it. And I’m not just saying that to suck up to my editor. (Particularly since I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have time to be reading my silly little blog.) Thankfully, the notes were fairly minor and now the book is absolutely perfect … until the copyeditor says otherwise … and I get another deadline.
Meanwhile, in random business…
Check out my latest post at the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies site for some tips on how to survive the holiday shopping season. (You’re probably going to have to scroll down to November 27 to read it.)
Speaking of links … if you’re bored, here’s an interview with me for Bones: The Official Companion.
And, finally, congratulations to Kristi and Lauren! They both won copies of DRAMA! The Four Dorothys and Everyone’s a Critic in the monthly book contest hosted by teensreadtoo.com. Check out the site every month for more contests with a variety of authors. I’m sure I’ll be doing more with them in the future.
I promise to try to blog more before the year ends. (Notice how I promised “to try” rather than promised “to.”)
Until then … have a Happy Holiday Season!